Knockdown box



March 25, 1952 R. M. BERGSTEIN KNOCKDOWN BOX Filed April 2, 1947 IN V EN TOR.

ATTOR EYS.

Patented Mar. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE KNOCKDOWN BOX Robert Morris Bergstein, Cincinnati, Ohio Application April 2, 1947, Serial No. 738,826

3 Claims. (01. 229-) This invention has to do with the provision of knock-down box structures made from non-scorable sheeting. By non-scorable sheeting I mean any material suitable for box manufacture, which, unlike boxboard, cannot be rendered flexible along a hinge line by scoring. The term is therefore inclusive of a wide variety of materials, an exemplary but non-limiting one of which is cellulose acetate sheeting, having a thickness of at least about 0.01 inch. This material is transparent and has a large number of advantages in the provision of boxes or containers for the display or merchandising of various saleable materials. It is thermoplastic, and panel portions may readily be bent or folded with respect to each other by the application of heat along a proposed line of fold. In this way setup structures may be produced; but if they are made at a central point the expense of shipping such setup structures to the user is excessive.

One object of this invention is the provision of structures and methods whereby boxes constructed of non-scorable sheeting may be produced at a central point but shipped in knockeddown condition to the user. It is an object of my invention to produce a knocked-down structure of such character that it may be set up by the user without elaborate equipment.

In. my co-pending applications, Serial No. 695,143 filed September 6, 1946, now Patent No. 2,551,090, May 1, 1951, and entitled Knocked Down or Folding Structure Made From Acetate Sheeting or the Like, and Serial No. 720,407, filed January 6, 1947, and entitled Folding Boxes Employing Non-Scorabl'e Sheeting, I have taught a means and a method for the rapid and economical production of structures including a plurality of discrete panels of non-scorable sheeting articulated together on parallel folding lines. In making these structures a web of non-scorable sheeting is withdrawn from a roll, and as it is moved through a machine it is continuously slit in the desired widths for the articulated panels, whereupon strips of material thin and flexible enough to serve as a hinge are applied so as to cover the lines of slit in the sheeting and are adhesively secured to the panels. The. treated web is then cut transversely to form structures each comprising a plurality of articulated panels.

These structures were intended primarily to form body portions of knock-down cartons, end portions of which were formed of cut and scored pieces of boxboard adhesively secured to the end of the several panels.

- 0ne object of the present invention is the provision of box structures of knockdown character, but consisting of panels of non-scorable sheeting and suitable hinging means. Thus with a transparent, non-scorable sheeting I am enabled to make boxes which are transparent or translucent throughout, and this also is an object of my invention.

These and other objects which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading this specification, I accomplish in that procedure and in those constructions and arrangements of parts of which I shall now describe certain exemplary embodiments. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of an assembly of articulated panels as initially produced by me.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of this assembly after the ends of the panels have been bent.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a series of nested structures formed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a box element in process of formation.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a box element in process of formation where the ends are adhesively secured.

Figs. 6' and 7 are partial perspective views of modified forms of box construction.

Referring to Fig. 1. I have shown an exemplary assembly consisting of panels I, 2 and 3 of non-scorable sheeting hinged together by means of the hinging strips 4 and 5. This structure may be very rapidly and economically made by the procedures and mechanisms set forth in my co-pending applications referred to above. The hinging strips 4 and 5 are, as indicated, thin and flexible. Where panels are of acetate or other transparent thermoplastic, transparent hinging strips of the same substance or of any of the non-fibrous films of commerce such as cellophane, etc. are preferably employed. They may be affixed over the lines of slit dividing the panels by the application of a suitable adhesive or by the application of a solvent for the substance of the panels or the strips or both. Excellent results are also conveniently achieved by employing for the hinging strips 4 and 5 a material which is pre-coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive and is pressed against the panels during the manufacturing operation. Preferably also I make use of a procedure and apparatus set forth in my copending application Serial No. 727,212, filed February 7, 1947, and entitled Apparatus and Method for the Manufacture of Articulated Panels, involving the forcible separation of the slit edges of the panels at the time of the application of the hinged strips. This provides structures in which the panels can readily be folded with respect to each other with the hinging strips at the outsides of the angles of fold.

The cutting apart of the articulated web of sheeting is done with the usual fly knife or other appropriatemeans; but whereas in my co-pending applications I form in this fashion articulated panel structures of the length desired in the body walls of a box, in accordance with the present invention the structures are made longer than the desired length of the body panels. Dot-dash lines at 6 and l in Fig. 1 indicate the desired length of the body panels in the exemplary box. Panels 1 and 3 may be considered as side walls of an element for a two-piece box, panel 2 constituting the top or bottom panel of the structure as the case may be. The portions of the Fig. 1 structure extending beyond the lines 6 and I are so dimensioned as to produce end wall members 8 and 9 and tabs H), II, l2 and i3. 7

These end wall and tab members are not, however, articulated to the other panel elements, but are a continuation of them as shown.' In the finished box element or tray structure it is required that they lie at right angles to the remaining panels. Accordingly the structure of Fig. 1 is treated by turning up its ends along'the dot-dash lines to provide the structure shown in Fig. 2. In the'case of acetate or other thermoplastic sheeting this will be done by forming or bending operations involving the application of heat along lines 6 and i to soften the material and permit bending. The bending of the nonscorable sheeting gives it a permanent set and the structure of Fig. 2 is thus U-shaped in longitudinal section. I also slit the hinge tapes 4 and 5 along the score lines in the turned-up sections.

It will now be seen that the structure of Fig. 2 comprises three discrete U-shaped. sections of non-scorable sheeting, hinged together along the bases of the U-shaped sections.

The structure shown in Fig. 2 is a knock-down structure, and one capable of a nesting arrangement during shipment so that a large quantity of such structures may be packed into comparatively small space. They may be nested as shown in Fig. 3 where in spite of the fact that the end portions of the structure have been bent up at right angles, the body portions arch themselves transversely as at [4; Large numbers of the nested structures may be packed in shipping cases taking up essentially no more room per stack than the same number of flat blanks of equivalent thickness plus the depth of one setup box element. The curvature of the body portions as at |4- is so slight that the material acquires no permanent set in most instances; but any set in the material is flattened out as soon as the assemblies are erected.

The assemblies formed in accordance with this invention are readily erected and made into setup box elements. The panel portions I and 3 are I folded along the lines of articulation to positions perpendicular to panel 2 as illustrated in Fig. 4. The tabs Ill, il, I2 and I3 may lie inside or outside the end wall portions 8 and 9 and it is only necessary to fasten these lapping parts in the erected position. This may be done as in Fig. 4 by stapling indicated at l5. The end wall 8 has been shown in slightly displaced position in this figure for the purpose of clarity. It may be displaced to this position under pressure, but in the preferred form of my invention the end walls and tabs are given a permanent set at substantially to the respective body wall panels. It is possible however to set them at other than 90 angles and then force them into position during the fastening together of the lapping portions at the end of the box structure.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a mode of securing the box in set up condition by adhesive means. A suitable adhesive may be applied as at l6 and I! to the tabs. This may be done if desired before the structure is initially folded along the lines of articulation, or it may be done during a slight forceful displacement of the end wall. In Figure 5 I show an internal support 18 upon which tabs 10 and II are resting. The adhesive is in place, and the end wall 9 will now be brought against the tabs. Pressure may be exerted during the setting of the adhesive between the internal support l3 and an external pressure memher (not shown).

There are a wide variety of ways in which the end elements of my exemplary structure may be fastened together. An application of solvent followed by pressing the end wall and tabs together, will produce adhesion where the substance of the sheeting is softenable in this fashion. In Fig. 6 I have shown the tabs ID and H provided with arcuate cuts l9 and 20 forming small tongues which are adapted to enter slots 2| and 22 in the end wall 9. In Fig. 7 I have shown a turned over portion 23 at the outer edge of the end wall 9 beneath which the tabs l0 and II may be engaged. The structures of Figs. 6 and 7 are readily set up byhand.

The principles I have set forth are adapted to a wide variety of box forms and are not restricted to the specific trays or components of two-piece boxes which I have illustrated herein as exemplary. One-piece boxes may be made with a full complement-of enclosing body walls plus an extra wall, a glue flap, or a tuck flap.

Modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the spirit of it. Having described my invention in certain exemplary embodiments, however, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A box structure formed of three separate panels of plastic sheeting material which is nonscorable, said sheeting panels having their end portions bent so that the panels are substantially U-shaped in longitudinal section and permanently set in the bent condition, said panels be ing hingedly articulated together along the bases of the Us by means of narrow strips of flexible hinging material secured to marginal edge portions of adjacent panels, the bases of the outermost two of said panels lying at substantially right 3. A knocked-down box structure formed of three separate panels of plastic sheeting material which is non-scorable, said sheeting panels lying in side-by-side parallelism and hingedly articulated together by narrow strips of flexible hinging material secured to marginal edge portions of adjacent panels, said sheeting panels having their end portions bent so that the panels of the box and the bent sections of the panels will 5 define the end wall members and tab members for securing the panels together in the assembled condition.

ROBERT MORRIS BERGSTEIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Osborne Dec. 29, 1885 Scott Mar. 22, 1892 Jagenberg Sept. 10, 1912 Norton Nov. 25, 1913 Smith Jan. 11, 1921 Smith June 10, 1930 Gillam Feb. 25, 1941 Clouston May 12, 1942 Ziemmerman May 26, 1942 Abramson Apr. 13, 1943 Wiepert July 20, 1948 

